One of the things I like most about my walk this week on my local salt marsh is the marsh grass. It’s not the only thing I focus on when there, but using the camera to look at different aspects of the grass by adjusting the focal length allows me to investigate some of its different textures and patterns.

The two images below with the fence half hidden amongst the grasses are ones that each have a different depth of field and which I like for different reasons. The one with the fence and background grasses blurred gives me a better sense of being there while the other seems to me to be more diagrammatic, though I like the complex texture it presents. You may see them differently, but neither of them are realistic insofar as the camera lens cannot see in the way our eyes do but only recreate a sense of a place which we, ultimately, respond to according to our individual perception. Perhaps, if you are unfamiliar with this kind of landscape feature, the images may mean nothing to you. Our connection and response to the things around us, images included, is strongly influenced by our own experiences.

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Familiar from years of archaeological digging on the North Gower coast (and walking on the marsh road to Llanrhidian or Weobley Castle) but rarely looked at it closely, offspring and horses being the main distractions!

I was recently working on the marshes at Llanrhidian – they are much more expansive than our local ones further up the estuary – and very beautiful it’s amazing the number of ponies that enjoy them- and children when given the chance.